Visits from Shantou University, Nottingham Ningbo, and Tohoku Daigaku to the ELC

The first half of 2025 saw the ELC visited by delegations from different regional universities in Shantou, Ningbo and Sendai.

The Director and senior staff members of the English Language Centre, Shantou University, visited the ELC on 17 February. They were given a tour of the ELC’s Centre for Independent Language Learning (CILL), where colleagues tried out the VR Space and also learned about different initiatives in CILL such as the Chat Corner, Inscribe, Workshops, the use of AI speaking tools, and the Reading Club. A fruitful discussion and exchange of views followed as both centres shared common issues related to manpower and motivation of students.

ELC representatives joined the FH visit from representatives of Tohoku University in Sendai on 12 March. The discussion included possible opportunities for language exchanges and residential language camps at PolyU for Tohoku students. ELC representatives discussed their experience of similar language camps run in the past for students from universities in South Korea and Japan. The visit concluded with a tour of CILL lead by Associate Director of the ELC, Anna Ho.

On 27 March, a representative of the Centre for English Language Education at the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus, Ms Jeanne O’Connell, met senior staff to discuss further opportunities for collaboration. The use of AI in language learning was a topic of significant interest to the language centres at both universities.